Mikhail Kudryavtsev says:
The battle for Hill 382.1 near Grozny has also forever remained in my memory. I can’t help but write to you about him, about the scouts of the 506th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment - real fighters with whom we sipped Chechen dashing, fed lice, went on patrol and attack, and who, by the will of fate, remained behind the scenes, remained nameless heroes of the war.
With 5 o'clock in the morning on December 17, 1999, our reconnaissance group of seven people under the command of Senior Lieutenant Alexei Kichkasov conducted reconnaissance in a summer cottage near the settlement. Suburban. From here, the militants conducted a harassing shelling of the units of the second battalion of the regiment from sniper rifles, grenade launchers and ATGMs. Having found several firing points, bunkers and dugouts on the slopes, we received an order to withdraw. In the afternoon we returned to the point of temporary deployment.
Two hours later, the company was given a new task: to capture the strategically important height 382.1, as well as two skyscrapers on the outskirts of it and hold them until the units of the second battalion approached. A powerful artillery preparation was promised, including the use of volume explosion projectiles, as well as support by all available forces and means.
This hill towered over the Chechen capital. It opened up an excellent view of Prigorodnoye, Gikalovsky, the 53rd section of Grozny, Chernorechye. The psychiatric hospital was also clearly visible - a strong cruciform building made of red brick, in which, as it turned out later, there was a powerful stronghold of the militants. Rocket men once stood at the very height, and powerful concrete fortifications and deep bunkers have survived to this day.
At 22.15 they began to move. Our reconnaissance detachment consisted of three groups, no more than forty people in total. The detachment was given an artillery gunner, a "chemist", three sappers. From the battalion, several fighters went with us, so that later they could bring their units to the heights. The first group was commanded by Lieutenant V. Vlasov, the second - by Lieutenant I. Ostroumov, the third - by Senior Lieutenant A. Kichkasov.
The promised artillery preparation did not wait, the tanks only worked on the slope for a short time.
The heavy night climb to the first skyscrapers through dense thickets took about seven hours. By five in the morning we reached the first line, lay down, the infantrymen accompanying us went down.
It was still dark, we were lying on the frozen ground, quietly talking. There were many contractors in the reconnaissance. My emergency was in the early 90s in the GRU special forces. And almost all the guys in intelligence are not newbies, they served urgently in serious units. Junior Sergeant S. Nedoshivin - in the GOS of the Zelenograd BON, privates Telelyaev and Slesarev - in the GOS of the 8th OBRON, participated in the first Chechen war. Private Sergei Skutin served in the Sofrino brigade, was in hot spots in the early nineties. Private P. Tsetsyrin - from the 3rd ObrSN GRU, Private A. Zashikhin - a former intelligence officer of the 31st Obron. Sergeant E. Khmelevsky, private A. Borisov, private V. Balandin served in the Airborne Forces (he fought in the first Chechen war, later served in Yugoslavia). Sergeant Major V. Pavlov served on a contract basis in Tajikistan in the 201st division, in 1995 he was awarded the Order of Courage. From August 1996 to February 1997 he served in the reconnaissance battalion of the 205th brigade in Grozny, was a member of the personal security group of the commander of the United Forces in the North Caucasus, General V. Tikhomirov. Military scouts senior sergeant A. Seleznev, sergeant N. Meleshkin, senior sergeant A. Larin are just good guys and excellent fighters.
... It dawned, an unusually bright and sunny day began. Ahead, about eight hundred meters, at a height, a repeater tower was clearly visible. We were waiting for the approach of two motorized rifle companies in order to place them at this line and at the end of the day move towards the final goal - the repeater. At this time, I was next to the company commander, Lieutenant I. Ostroumov, and heard his radio exchange with the head of intelligence of the regiment.
- Did the infantry come?
- Not..
Do you see the repeater?
- I see.
- To the repeater - go ahead!
At 7.15 we rushed forward in a long chain along a narrow path. Twenty minutes later the head patrol and the first group reached the outskirts of the plateau. There were no more than 150 meters to the tower. At the bottom of the circular trench, they found a large-caliber machine gun, carefully covered with a blanket. After ten or fifteen steps, the patrol stumbled upon a “spirit” that had grown up as if from under the ground. Private Yu. Kurgankov, going first, reacted faster - a line at point-blank range and a dash into the trench.
And immediately the plateau came to life, machine guns and machine guns started working. The head patrol and the first group dispersed to the right of the direction of movement and occupied a shallow trench along the edge of the height.
We were hit with grenade launchers. Foreman V. Pavlov, a VOG-25 grenade hit the radio station behind his back. The foreman's head was cut off with fragments. Senior Lieutenant Aleksey Kichkasov, who was nearby, bandaged the foreman, injected promedol. Seriously wounded, Pavlov, although he could no longer shoot himself, equipped stores and handed them to the commander lying next to him, then lost consciousness.
At the same time, Pavel Slobodsky was also hooked by a fragment of VOG-25.
There were few fighters. Shouting heart-rendingly “Allah Akbar!”, they retreated to the tower. To hit them on the flank, I and Private A. Borisov moved along the slope along the trenches to the left of the main group. Creeped up. I spread the tall, withered grass. Directly in front of me about twenty meters "spirit". He immediately pulls the trigger, but the bullets go higher. I rolled to the right, raised my machine gun and saw a grenade flying at me through the scope. A jerk back, I close my head with a machine gun. Lucky this time too - the explosion came from ahead, only fragments whistled overhead. And Borisov was not hooked. But after our grenades, the “spirit” calmed down for good.
The battle is already going on all over the high-rise. On the right, a little ahead, I see Sergeant N. Meleshkin, Senior Sergeant Seleznev, Company Sergeant Edik, Sergeant E. Khmelevsky, Junior Sergeant A. Arshinov, Corporal A. Shurkin. Having run to the roof of the bunker, senior sergeant Andrey Seleznev throws a grenade down.
At this time, the "spiritual" snipers opened fire. In the second group, Corporal A. Shurkin was the first to die. The bullet hit him in the eye. Without a cry, he silently sank down. Senior Sergeant Seleznev died next - a sniper's bullet pierced his arm and entered his chest. Andrei was turned around before our eyes, the “unloading” on him was smoking. Sergeant E. Khmelevsky also died. He almost ran to the entrance to the hangar. The first bullet hit him in the chest, the second in the chin.
On the right flank, in the first group, an ordinary S. Kenzhibaev died from a sniper bullet, and a big man from Penza, junior sergeant S. Nedoshivin, was hit in the neck, breaking an artery. Private A. Zashikhin on the radio transmits to the regiment that there is a battle, there are dead and wounded. In the next moment, he himself is wounded by a grenade fragment.
On the radio comes the order to withdraw. The company commander, Lieutenant I. Ostroumov, is trying to bring it to everyone, but this is not easy to do. Fighters in groups of several people are in different trenches. The radio station of the first group was smashed by an explosion, the signalmen were injured, and the roar was such that you couldn’t shout. And Ostroumov with seven soldiers who were nearby, including an artillery gunner and a signalman, goes down. He returned to the regiment at about nine in the morning.
And the high-altitude battle continued. A machine gun burst was seriously wounded in the stomach by Lieutenant V. Vlasov. Sapper Bulatov, who rushed to his aid, was killed by a sniper.
In the center of the height, a group of scouts took refuge in a trench, next to the bunker. The sniper did not let them get up and pull out the dead. Three bullets, one after another, fell next to Sergeant Meleshkin, one tore off his hat. Private Saprykin was wounded in the arm. For Private Maltsev, a bullet smashed a magazine while unloading and got stuck in his bulletproof vest. Finally, our regimental artillery began to beat. Probably, the artillery gunner who went down caused fire to the height.
At this time, Private A. Borisov and I went quite far along the trenches going around the height. Here the bandits felt free. We see three of them standing almost to their full height, saying something and pointing in the direction where ours lay down. We slowly took aim and shot two targets with two single shots. The third "spirit" rushed to the tower so that the heels sparkled.
The shells were already bursting so close that they had to crawl back along the trench.
The fighters of the group led by Sergeant N. Meleshkin, entrenched in the center, fired, making it possible to pull out the seriously wounded. Senior Lieutenant Aleksey Kichkasov with several fighters carried out foreman V. Pavlov. Having descended eight hundred meters down to the place where the detachment was located in the morning, and leaving the wounded and the fighters there, Kichkasov returned.
After some time, the militants left the height. Automatic, and then artillery fire subsided. There was an eerie silence.
All who survived the battle gathered together. Senior Lieutenant Kichkasov gave the command to retreat down to the morning line, taking the dead with him. At this time, the “spirits”, having come to their senses and regrouped in the base camp, began to pull themselves up and take the height into the ring, cutting off our escape routes. Their guttural cries seemed to come from everywhere. Picking up the dead, we began the descent. But the “spirits” who approached from the right and from below opened heavy fire. I had to leave the “two hundredths” and, answering with fire (the machine gunners, ordinary Slesarev and Abdulragimov worked well), retreat down.
The main group withdrew to the line of the morning disposition of the detachment and took up all-round defense. There are just over twenty of us left. Of these, two were seriously wounded, several shell-shocked. First aid to the wounded was provided by Private Sergei Skutin, a former medical instructor of the Sofrino brigade. Of the commanders in the ranks, Senior Lieutenant A. Kichkasov, of the ensigns - foreman of the company and sapper S. Shelekhov. There was no communication with the regiment.
The Czechs were rapidly approaching, combing fire and trying to encircle us again. The only place to retreat was down a densely overgrown hollow.
They settled down in a "scorpion": four - in the "head", two "claws" of four people in each - along the slopes of the crevice, in the center eight people, alternating in turn, carry out the seriously wounded foreman Pavlov on a tent. Private Saprykin, with a broken arm, walks by himself. Behind, in the cover group, four led by Senior Lieutenant Kichkasov.
Five fighters who carried out Lieutenant Vladimir Vlasov, either crawling or rushing, retreated down two hundred or three hundred meters to the right of the main group. Volodya sometimes came to his senses, kept asking:
- Did the infantry come?
Having received a negative answer, he gnashed his teeth and again lost consciousness.
After some time, which seemed to us an eternity, we went to the Grozny-Shali highway. Here, two motorized rifle companies stood in the summer cottages. At eight o'clock in the morning, as planned, they moved forward, but, crossing the road, they came under machine-gun fire from bunkers equipped on one of the hills. Having lost one soldier killed, the motorized riflemen retreated. It's a shame! After all, days earlier, while on patrol, we spotted these firing points and reported on command, as expected. Somewhat later, a small group of scouts from the Volgograd reconnaissance battalion, guarding the headquarters of the northern group, went up the mountain. But they also came back, reporting that the regiment's reconnaissance was surrounded at a height and was fighting an unequal battle, and it was not possible to break through to us. We were helped a little by a mortar battery, which, by resuming fire on the slopes of the skyscrapers, prevented the militants from quickly maneuvering and pursuing us.
The fighters who carried Lieutenant Vlasov from a height were sent down for help from Private Zashikhin, wounded in the back. He went out onto the highway not far from us and, losing strength, fired his machine gun upwards. Zashikhin said that Lieutenant Vlasov was alive, he was eight hundred to a thousand meters up the slope, he needed help. Having loaded the foreman Pavlov onto the "beshka", we, with senior lieutenant Kichkasov and with several other volunteer infantrymen, went up the mountain.
And at this time, exhausted, the guys decided to take a break. Sat down. Senior Sergeant Larin laid the commander's head on his knees. The last time Volodya whispered:
- Where is the infantry? How is the height?..
“It’s all right, they recaptured it,” said Larin, turning away.
And Vlasov died. They continued to carry Volodya until they ran into an ambush of "spirits".
At about two o'clock in the afternoon, at the head of senior lieutenant Kichkasov, 29 people came out to the regiment's location along with the wounded ...
A week later, Major Ilyukhin, the head of intelligence of the regiment, led us to a height of 382.1. We occupied the height at night, without shots. For a week, aviation and artillery plowed it beyond recognition.
In the morning at the height we found three of our comrades. The bodies of Senior Sergeant Seleznev and Sergeant Khmelevsky were mutilated. "Spirits" and dead scouts are afraid. Lieutenant Vladimir Vlasov was found three days later mined (F-1 under his head, RGD-5 in his pocket).
Foreman V. Pavlov died in Mozdok on December 25, on the very day when the height will become ours. Junior Sergeant S. Nedoshivin will be found by the Ministry of Emergency Situations in three months, he will be buried at home in Penza. Private Kenzhibaev and sapper Bulatov are still considered missing. I and several of my comrades were the last to see and carried them from that height. That they still could not endure is our pain for life, and that they died heroically is a fact.
The head of intelligence, Major N. Ilyukhin, will die from a sniper's bullet on January 21 in Grozny, on Minutka Square. Senior Lieutenant A. Kichkasov has already retired. Aleksey is not a regular military man (he graduated from Saransk University, a teacher and trainer in martial arts). Kichkasov has more than thirty military reconnaissance missions to his credit, he is an excellent officer and a fearless commander. On January 23, Aleksei will be seriously shell-shocked in Grozny and, after being cured in a Rostov hospital, will retire to the reserve. For the battle at an altitude of 382.1, for Grozny, Kichkasov will be presented with the title of Hero of Russia. Thank you, Alexey, that you did not leave us at that height, led us to your own ...
* * *
Junior Sergeant Sergei Vladimirovich Nedoshivin, deputy platoon commander of a reconnaissance company of the 506th motorized rifle regiment. In April 2000, he was buried at the Ternovsky cemetery in the city of Penza. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage. Everlasting memory!!!
Exploded bridgehead. Requiem for the 245th Regiment Kiselev Valery Pavlovich
Chapter 1 Hours and days
Minute. Hours and days
The most intense days of the operation to capture Grozny were coming. Both sides were preparing for decisive battles ...
From the diary of Alexei Gorshkov:
01/22/2000
The inevitability of the assault on Grozny is becoming ever clearer. The Czechs are not going to surrender the city. Every day, more and more clearly and thoroughly, preparations are being made for the upcoming assault.
01/23/2000
An order was received to march from the Old Fisheries to the southern outskirts of Grozny, where the 506th regiment had already taken the private sector, but could not advance further, strong resistance from the spirits.
01/25/2000
From Khankala we went to Grozny and settled in the area occupied by the 506th regiment.
From the Journal of Combat Actions of the 245th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment
At 6.00 the regiment began to march to the area of concentration. The march was made along the route: the command post of the regiment - Oktyabrskoye - Alkhan-Kala - Alkhan-Yurt - Prigorodnoye - Khankala. The regiment made a 50-kilometer march and at 13.00 concentrated 1 km northeast of Khankala. The units of the regiment occupied their indicated areas, organized security and began to prepare for the upcoming task. At 15.00, the regiment commander left for the OSH OR of Grozny to clarify the task and organize interaction. In the course of clarifying the task, Major General Troshev reported that Major General Malofeev had been found and taken to the OH of the Grozny group. Major General Malofeev died on January 17, but his body was not found. Today, after a long search, the body of Major General Malofeev and his signalman soldier was found with the help of a search dog near the battlefield, covered with snow. Headquarters officers said goodbye to the deceased.
At 18.30 at the command post, the regiment commander set tasks for the battalion commanders to prepare for the upcoming task.
"We are moving forward..."
Sergei Yudin, regiment commander, guard colonel:
- What mood can be before the battle - excitement, anxiety for subordinates ... The main blow of our troops in Grozny was delivered by the adjacent flanks of the 506th and our regiments. We understood that we were operating in the main direction, that the regiment would have to bear the brunt of the fighting. But the 506th regiment was not in a secondary direction either. We do not share merits, the 506th regiment fought no worse than the 245th and no weaker. The officers and soldiers of both the 506th and 245th regiments fought and behaved with dignity, especially since the 506th regiment suffered most of the losses. And the main burden of the fighting in Grozny fell on the 506th regiment. For operations in the city, assault detachments were created in this regiment. Conducted demonstrations first. The assault detachments of the 506th Regiment went into battle a few days before our arrival and suffered heavy losses. As a result, this regiment was demoralized and abandoned the offensive for several days until the losses of personnel were replenished.
- San Sanych Frolov called me, and we left with him and with the task force for Khankala.
We stood in the field, part of it was mined. Where? What? - difficult to understand. We chose a place for the regiment, our columns soon began to approach. During the day, everyone came up, for daylight hours. We were given two or three days to "sloppiness".
We knew that the spirits could take our bearings, and so that they would not figure us out, during the night at the headquarters of the regiment they redrawn maps of the city on tracing paper.
“Unsuccessfully, the Chechens joked ...”
- When the regiment was transferred from near Katayama around Grozny to Khankala, our platoon covered the column. We got up on the "behe" on the road and waited for the convoy to pass, and due to breakdowns, and until the last cars arrived, it dragged on for a day.
Peaceful Chechens traveled along the roads. We stop the "Volga", and from there the Chechens show us "fuck!". A bus with riot police was just passing by, and they rounded up everyone from this Volga and took them somewhere. Unsuccessfully Chechens joked. In the morning, passing through the village, we saw an aggressive crowd. Chechens yelled at us. It turns out that the tank crushed the car with people.
Vyacheslav Lesin, deputy technical officer of the 2nd motorized rifle battalion, senior lieutenant of the guard:
– Not a tank crushed a car with people. The village was at the entrance to Khankala. There was a column of equipment of the regiment. Almost behind me, at some distance, a BTS-4 repair tractor was towing a faulty infantry fighting vehicle. A Chechen car, like a white Volga, was moving towards. They did not part, the tractor hooked her. Moreover, the Volga was moving brazenly. And, of course, the locals, screaming and screaming, began to gather in the crowd. Having reached his own people, he asked them to convey upstairs that there was a bucha in the village, the column was stopped. An infantry fighting vehicle from a reconnaissance company went there for a showdown.
Vitaly Zavraysky, commander of the 4th motorized rifle company, guard captain:
- I received a task to move to the Oktyabrskoye settlement. They stood there overnight as part of the battalion, replenished all supplies. In the morning we marched through the Northern airport to Khankala. For two or three days they prepared for the upcoming assault on the city. We went on reconnaissance, but it did not work out due to the high density of militant fire.
Alexey Gorshkov:
- Grozny is the key point of the bandits' defense. Everyone understood that if you take it quickly, it will be easier to fight further. We were told that the commander of the unit that would take Minutka Square would receive the title of Hero of Russia.
Not far away, in the depot area and in several private houses, a battalion of the 506th motorized rifle regiment was defending. I then understood the task of our regiment as follows: enter Grozny and squeeze out the bandits in the direction of the Aldy microdistrict. We were standing on Vozdvizhenskaya Street, in front - five-story panel buildings, to the left of Minutka Square, through the viaduct, we could see a three-story red brick shopping center, without windows and doors, and a consumer service building. There were three “candles” on Minutka - nine-story buildings, a school, behind it, nine-story panel houses with “candles”, they ended at the Romanov Bridge, and then a hospital complex where Nevzorov filmed his film “Purgatory”.
“Only sparks from the armor…”
Igor Druzhinin, 3rd motorized rifle company, contract soldier:
- Once, even before the assault on Grozny, a couple of boys and I went to the private sector to look for food, and when we went upstairs, it turned out that the general, the head of intelligence in our direction, had come, and the guys complained to him that the foreman and technician of the company were not giving us dry ration. They were given an incomplete service, and I, as a ringleader (although I was not there when talking with the general), as well as Vovan Tkachenko and Diman, at the insistence of a technician and foreman, were transferred from reconnaissance to infantry.
So I ended up in the second platoon of the third company, Vovan - like in the first company, where his left arm was soon torn off by a shot from the "Chekhov" "AGS".
In the infantry, normal guys crept up. The platoon commander was Lieutenant Vanya Tsykin, like my age, since 1976. I begged myself again "RMB".
We stood in front of the private sector of Katayama, three hundred meters away, lived in wagons, only the windows were sealed from snipers. Snipers worked there all the time, mostly to the sound of artillery. In silence, they did not shoot, so as not to light up. We laid out a small post of concrete blocks on the roof of the building, and watched from there. The tank had just arrived to shoot from us, so the crew couldn’t lean out of it, the snipers fired at it so hard, only sparks from the armor. And I somehow decided there, in a concrete garage, to go in for sports, hit a pear and, forgetting, went out of the garage gate, immediately two shots and holes from a large-caliber rifle appeared in the iron door near my head (often they shot at us from " anti-sniper" caliber 12.7 mm).
My platoon was quite famous in the regiment. At the height, which they took for three days, the boys managed to steal a Niva from the "Czechs" with a mortar installed in the car, and even a couple of "Czechs" to roll. And once half of the platoon went to look for something to eat at home, they stumbled upon the "Czechs". Our boy opens the door to the house, and there is a “Czech” standing there, a machine gun is lowered in his hands, but he manages to fire a burst in our stomach. The battle began, a platoon infantry fighting vehicle jumped to the rescue, covered the machine gunner on the roof. In general, our dumped with losses. Of course, they didn’t stroke the head later, because if they hadn’t gone to the houses, nothing would have happened.
“Fatigue and apathy accumulated ...”
Artur Sataev, Chief of Staff of the 1st Battalion, Major:
- On the twenty-third of January - the march of the regiment near Khankala. Almost immediately, units began to move to Grozny. Fighting began in the city. At first, fighting in the city was scary. Then fatigue and apathy accumulated: I managed to sleep only two or three hours a day.
There was interaction between the troops, but what kind is another question. To say that it was good or bad… No comment… There were enough problems. At the level of the regiment, the interaction was normal. But I can’t say that everything was wonderful and good.
The militants had their own intelligence, their own management, I would not say that it was clear, but not chaotic. Feelings of doom and hopelessness, as someone thinks, they did not have, it was felt that they would leave the city at the right time. But the moral superiority of the militants over us was not.
The battalion headquarters, mortar battery, communications platoon and support platoon were located in the depot in front of the private sector. The battalion commander assigned me the task of deploying the KNP and being with a mortar battery.
"He died before my very eyes..."
Sergey Girin, deputy commander of the 2nd motorized rifle company for educational work, lieutenant:
- On January 24, we entered Grozny and began to move through the private sector in the direction of Minutka Square.
This is where the most difficult stage of the war began ... When moving through the private sector, we changed units of the 506th regiment. One flyer from this unit told me: “I have twelve people left from the platoon, the rest were mowed down ...”
We occupied the area assigned to us. Here, before my eyes, a contract soldier, a young guy from Nizhny Novgorod, died. There were many deaths, but this one was remembered because he died from his own ... Our artillerymen began shelling the positions of the "Czechs", the so-called detachment came from a series of shells fired, and the soldier's head was torn off by shrapnel ... At that time he was on guard on the street ... It's ridiculous ... It was a painful sight ... The guys put him on the “behu”, I took him to the medical platoon ...
Dmitry Usikov, Senior Assistant Chief of Artillery Regiment:
- We went to Grozny on the twenty-fourth of January, and it started to spin ...
The stress of these days was such that Colonel Yudin ordered special pills to keep him awake. On the edge of Khankala there were two five-story buildings, in one of the panels was the NP of the 506th regiment, they already stood here. We got up, went into another house, the builders lived there, on the third floor - the regiment's first-aid post. We sat there for three days while Bulavintsev took Minutka. At night, a tank shot was fired at this building, the shell hit the corner of the building and went to the third floor, to the first-aid post. Then our ATGM battery driver was wounded in the leg.
In the battles for Grozny, we were given a battery of self-propelled guns of the 752nd regiment. When Bulavintsev's battalion went on the offensive and reached Minutka Square, it was night. Ours went to the cinema area, part of the infantry was locked up by the spirits, and then our battery at one in the morning began to fire on Minutka so that the spirits would not sleep. They woke up. It turned out that in the building where our spirits are sitting. The first house is clean, empty, ours report, and the spirits are on the second and third floors. I had to bring the self-propelled guns to direct fire. They completely destroyed the twelve-story building ...
Documentation
Combat Order No. 015 for the offensive.
09.00 January 24, 2000
1. The enemy holds the occupied lines along the streets of Filatov, Magistralnaya, Khankalskaya. He tries to defeat our troops with counterattacks and pulls up reserves from the depths of the city. Approximately in the offensive zone of the regiment, up to 400 militants are defending, armed with small arms, 82- and 120-mm mortars, grenade launchers and memory devices, having an advantage in position, because they occupy defenses in multi-storey buildings and, using this, conduct aimed sniper fire at the entire depth of the battle formations of the battalions of the regiment. With the help of the senior commander, in the interests of the regiment, aircraft and artillery destroy enemy manpower and firepower in high-rise buildings in the area of \u200b\u200bthe square. Minute.
2. 245 SMEs and a tank company with two assault detachments No. 4 and 5 attack the corner of Kolbus Street, the corner of Ul. Brothers Nosov in the direction of the street. Chernoglaza - cinema, excl. Minutka square and, in cooperation with the 506th MRR, defeat the enemy in the area of ul. Colbus, pl. Minute, st. Nosov brothers. By the morning of January 25, 2000, take possession of high-rise buildings northeast of the outskirts of the square. Minute. The 506th MRR is advancing from the left, in the direction of the 138.0 mark, with the task of defeating the enemy in the area around the corner of Brat'ev Nosovyh streets, the L-shaped building, and Leonov Ave., the dividing line. On the right, the 33rd OBRON advances, sets up roadblocks in the area of the intersection with the street. Komarov.
3. I decided: to deliver the main blow in the direction of the street. Kolbusa - garages - a cinema - high-rise buildings northeast of Sq. Minute. Inflict fire defeats on the enemy in two periods: fire preparation for the attack and storming of the city and fire support for the attack during the storming of the city. Fire training to be carried out by the forces and means of the senior commander and the fire of the artillery battalion of the regiment, three fire raids within 38 minutes. In the first fire raid lasting 4 minutes, defeat the enemy's manpower and firepower in the area of Filatov streets - garages - a cinema.
"Capture and hold..."
Sergey Bulavintsev, commander of the 2nd motorized rifle battalion, Major of the Guards:
- My battalion first blocked the Katayama region (this is the northwestern outskirts of Grozny). On the morning of January 23, two columns of our regiment, having circled the city from the north and south, four hours later reached Khankala, the western outskirts, where the reconnaissance group was already located. Here the regiment commander set me a combat mission: the battalion, as an assault detachment, was to capture and hold three high-rise buildings on Minutka Square, which were of key importance in the defense of the militants in this area.
As is often the case in real war conditions, the limited time for preparing for an offensive did not allow us to work out in detail all the issues of organizing a battle, primarily interaction between units and neighbors on the ground.
In addition, the activity of the militants greatly interfered with a thorough reconnaissance. Using, as a rule, houses in the private sector, they fired from sniper rifles, AGS-17 automatic grenade launchers and GP-25 underbarrel grenade launchers at our troops, often changing their positions. Suffice it to say that during the advancement of the reconnaissance group, the commander of the sapper platoon and two servicemen who provided security were mortally wounded.
I had to limit myself to a visit to the command post of the neighboring regiment and, having agreed there only some questions on the map, return to the area of concentration. The planned tactical-combat exercise in the order of actions of the assault detachment in the city failed to be carried out.
Based on the current situation, an assessment of the strength and nature of the enemy’s actions, as well as the capabilities of our own, attached and supporting units, it was decided to create three assault groups, the basis of which was reinforced motorized rifle companies. Each assault group, in turn, was divided into subgroups: light, medium and heavy. The task of the light one was to capture the object of attack, and it was equipped with small arms, had only the necessary supply of ammunition. The middle subgroup, following the light one, was supposed to provide its actions with fire. This subgroup was armed with eight Shmel-type flamethrowers, eight thermobaric and 16 fragmentation grenades. A heavy subgroup (an 82-mm mortar "Tray" with 30 mines, a heavy machine gun with 300 rounds, four grenade launchers with 24 shots) supported the actions of light and medium subgroups with its fire, covering the flanks from sudden enemy attacks. Her arrows and machine gunners carried three rounds of ammunition. In the heavy subgroup, in addition, there was an additional supply of ammunition and food rations for the entire assault group.
Our snipers worked according to a special plan (eight people in each company). All of them were paired up to conduct counter-sniper combat, destroy commanders, machine gunners, grenade launchers and mortar crews of militants. Snipers were a separate element of the battle order of the assault squad and reported directly to the commanders of the assault groups.
At 12 o'clock on January 24, the battalion advanced to the starting area for the offensive, which was located in the area of the railway depot. In the interests of increasing survivability and inflicting surprise attacks on the enemy, all the battalion's equipment was hidden in the depot building in readiness to support the actions of the groups. Here are also located: a motorized rifle platoon - a reserve of an assault detachment, a medical platoon and rear units. A mortar battery set up firing positions nearby.
The operation started badly. The battalion from the regiment operating in front was unable to capture the line from which our regiment was to be brought into battle.
The commander of the group, Lieutenant General Bulgakov, sent the first battalion of our regiment to the rescue, which was also soon stopped by enemy fire.
At 13.00, the combat mission was clarified for me, and the battalion rushed forward. Without getting involved in fire duels with militants, bypassing open spaces, through gaps in fences and houses, by the end of the day the companies reached the starting line for the offensive, where they received orders to stop moving, organize all-round defense, watch and night rest.
“I’ll walk along Apricot…”
- Our neighbors, the 506th regiment, on the outskirts of Grozny, were preparing to storm the city for a month. We had to go into battle without careful preparation. Our first assault detachments went into battle at night, the 3rd motorized rifle company approached only by the morning of the next day. At first, there was no good interaction with the 506th regiment.
Since the enemy was listening to all our radio communications, I suggested that the command post change the names of the streets. We renamed all the streets in the regiment's combat zone, drew a diagram, brought it to each company, and changed their names every night. Spirits get used to street names on the air in a day, so the next day we come up with others. This cunning of ours helped us confuse the enemy and reduce losses. I know that since then Bulavintsev loves to sing: “I’ll walk along Abrikosovaya, turn onto Vinogradnaya ...”
Major Bulavintsev reported on the radio: “Bars, I’m Granite, we went to Minutka, welcome ...” At three o’clock in the morning, the assault groups of Bulavintsev’s battalion entered the five-story building on Minutka, but during the battle there turned out to be a layer cake: on some floors ours, on others spirits . Deputy The regiment commander, lieutenant colonel Frolov, was in the first battalion at that time, I lost him altogether for these three days. He was supposed to be in the most dangerous direction, but the units of the battalion sat down so that neither forward nor backward.
On the first day of the assault, we lost twenty people killed and wounded, and in three days - about fifty.
The tension during the assault on Grozny was such that for three days I did not go to sleep at all.
"Take it, clean it up and hold on..."
Andrey Kuzmenko, commander of the 3rd platoon of the 5th motorized rifle company, senior lieutenant of the guard:
- On the twenty-fourth of January, we concentrated in the starting area for the offensive in Khankala. Each company was an assault group, which consisted of three subgroups. Light, it is also a capture group (automatic machines "AK", "AKS", "GP-25", "RPG", "RPO" "Bumblebee"), heavy, it is also a fire support group ("PKM", "AK", "RPG-7", "RPO" - "Bumblebee"), the calculation of the mortar "Vasilek" with a small margin of min. Grenades for "RPG-7" were mostly fragmentation and thermobaric. And the support group is all who remained in the company. Each group commander had a map of the city and a radio station R-148.
The commander of the first platoon, Lieutenant Maltsev, was appointed commander of the capture group, which consisted of 10-12 people, I commanded the fire support group, which already included 18 people. The company commander refused my request to change our positions. It was a shame, because my friend senior lieutenant Kononov from the sixth company was assigned to the first group. The third group in the fifth company was commanded by a contract soldier senior sergeant Cherdakov, it consisted of ten people.
Two people refused to storm the city, this is the conscript Vavilov from Yaroslavl and the contract soldier Tereshin from Shuya. The first gave up fear, and the second came to Chechnya in general for financial reasons. They began to incite the people against the assault, but they were quickly isolated (closed in a freight car). And they were punished in a peculiar way: they were sent in an echelon along with those demobilized soldiers who survived after the storming of the city. Then they told me how they were driving ... And to the deputy. there was no point in contacting the educational company about this. It's better not to talk about him at all.
The first battalion was the first to enter the private sector. After some time, they gave the command to us ...
The further we went, the more destruction became visible on the streets. In one of the yards we came across a platoon of the first company. When I asked what they were doing here, they answered me that there were spirits ahead. I checked my position on the map and we moved forward. A hundred meters later we were fired upon from the attic of one of the houses. We riddled the whole attic and moved on.
It was getting dark quickly. We stopped on the outskirts of the private sector, set up secrets and ambushes. Prepared for the night. Although what kind of overnight stay is there ... Senior Lieutenant Kononov (we called him Horse) was sent by the battalion commander to reconnoiter the garage complex. When he returned from reconnaissance, I checked the secrets. “I don’t understand anything,” he says, “I didn’t find these garages. Let's go and see together." - "Let's go to". Indeed, a foundation pit was dug in place of the garages. And that's it.
Then senior lieutenant Kononov with his group went to the cinema, occupied it and entrenched himself there without a fight. I reported to the battalion commander, the battalion commander, in turn, to the regiment commander. The question may arise: why did all my reports go to the battalion commander? The answer is very simple: he was directly at the forefront, along with company commanders. Yes, we were on the same frequency.
They took over the cinema. We started looking around. And then their own artillery slashed through the cinema. The feeling, frankly, was terrible. The battalion commander in a raised voice explained to the regiment commander that we were under fire. The firing stopped.
In front of us was Minutka Square. The battalion commander began to set tasks for the commanders of the assault groups. The first group of the sixth company of senior lieutenant Kononov left and occupied the far wing of a long five-story building, cut in the middle by an explosion. The second group of senior lieutenant Arishin of the sixth company left and occupied the near wing of this five-story building. All this happened without a fight.
The battalion commander began to call the commander of the first group of our company, senior lieutenant Maltsev, to his place - they could not find him. Requested for a call, no response. Neither him nor the group. I didn’t see him again, but then they told me that he became scared, he found a bunch of women’s underwear and left with this underwear. Why he did it is unclear.
The battalion commander called me: “Do you see a nine-story candle in the alignment between the five- and four-story buildings?” - "I see." “Take it, clean it up and hang in there. Only faster, soon it will start to get light. I moved out with my group, and when I passed the passage between the five- and four-story buildings, I was surprised to see that the four-story building had the shape of the letter “G”, although on the city map it was just straight. The courtyard of the house was closed on all sides. We had already passed half of the five-story building, and at that moment machine guns and grenade launchers hit my group from almost three sides. The situation became critical. I noticed that there were also firing points in the "candle" house, and got in touch with the battalion commander. Briefly reported to him the situation, asked permission to take the group to the first and second groups of the sixth company. He allowed, at the same time setting them the task of supporting me with fire and smoke. Although Kononov and Arishin without his team were already crushing enemy firing points with the fire of their groups. Our group, firing back, crawled to the five-story building. When the smoke screen was put up, the spirits began to hit the smoke with such frenzy that at some point I doubted that we would get out alive. And then I noticed that it was starting to get light. So, we must hurry: both we became visible, and the spirits had an aiming bar and a front sight. The last meters - in the smoke - we overcame with a jerk. Half of the group went to Kononov, the other half, together with me, to Arishin.
As it turned out, they left just in time. Reinforcements approached the spirits. The fire became so dense that it became impossible to move around the house. The first wounded appeared. It was lucky that the floor in the corridor fell into the basement and a semi-basement room was formed. It saved us. My platoon commander, senior sergeant Zhenya Petrunkin, crawled up to me and said in a broken voice: “Comrade senior lieutenant, Nyukh (Private Plahotniuk) was killed here.” Immediately a voice from the darkness: "I'm alive!"
The denser the enemy fire was, the larger the window openings in the rooms became, and because of this, there were more wounded. Senior Lieutenant Arishin was wounded in the head by shrapnel. Blood poured down the collar, they stopped her, made a bandage. I made a decision: in order to avoid unnecessary losses, leave fire weapons on duty at the windows, and remove the rest of the soldiers into the basement corridor. I reported the decision to the battalion commander, he approved it.
The radio station went down at Senior Lieutenant Arishin's. By evening, communication with senior lieutenant Kononov, who was in the other wing of the five-story building with part of my group, was lost.
I did not know that Cherdakov's group was sent right behind us, and even without a walkie-talkie. It was then that a messenger crawled from him. And so everyone fired at his group: both the enemy and their own.
In the evening, as it got dark, he sent a volunteer soldier to Kononov. Day pass - there were no options. He returned with people from my group led by Sergeant Kozorezov and the news that Kononov's radio was broken.
How this day was reflected in the documents of the headquarters of the regiment ...
From the war diary
The regiment had the task of changing the units of the 506th regiment, occupying defense in the private sector along Filatov Street, by the end of the day, then storming garages, a cinema and seizing an L-shaped 5-story building and two 5-story buildings located on the northern outskirts of Minutka Square . At 9.40 the regimental commander left for the OP of the 506th regiment to organize interaction and determine the procedure for changing units. Then the regimental commander left for the front line of the 2nd battalion of the 506th regiment to conduct reconnaissance on the ground. The battalion commanders also left with the regimental commander. On the ground, the boundary for the entry of assault detachments into battle was determined. During the reconnaissance of the armored personnel carrier of the regiment commander and the motorized rifle company, they were fired upon by the enemy from the AGS-17. A number of servicemen received injuries of varying degrees.
At 13.30, assault detachments of the 1st and 2nd battalions advanced to their starting lines: st. Michael Kolbus, st. Black-eyed. Prior to this, the regiment commander once again personally specified to the battalion commanders the tasks of the assault on Grozny's facilities on Minutka Square, as well as the facilities adjacent to it from the south. Solved on the spot the problems that arose with the commanders and gave instructions for resolving other issues that required time.
At 14.40, the 1st Battalion began to advance to change units of the 506th Regiment, the 2nd Battalion was preparing to storm the garage sector and the cinema through the combat formations of the 1st Battalion.
At 1500, the 2nd Battalion began advancing behind the 1st Battalion. At 15.40, the 1st battalion began to change units of the 506th regiment on the street. Kolbus, the 2nd battalion went to the street. Komarov. ISR conducted engineering reconnaissance.
At 16.20, the change of units of the 506th regiment by units of the 1st battalion was completed. At 16.30, the assault group of the 1st assault detachment launched an offensive in the direction of the 1st quarter on the street. Filatova and by 17.00 completely mastered it. The 2nd and 3rd assault groups began the assault. During the offensive, assault groups identified enemy strongholds in the area of the 124.4 mark and the bridge over the railway.
At 17.45 on the NP regiment, equipped in a 5-storey building on the street. Topolev, the head of the Grozny OSH OR, Lieutenant-General Bulgakov, arrived to get acquainted with the situation.
By 19.00, the 2nd battalion had fully completed the assigned task for this time and was fixed at the turn along the street. Filatov between st. Kolbus and Vozdvizhenskaya.
The 1st battalion met the resistance of the enemy from the mark of 124.4, did not enter the battle, entrenched itself at the turn at the intersection of st. Kolbus and Komarov. The artillery battalion opened fire on enemy strongholds at the call of the commander of the 1st battalion.
At 22.00, the reconnaissance group of the 2nd battalion began to conduct reconnaissance of the garage area.
Everyone who survived those battles kept in their memory details that you will never forget ...
“Tears mixed with blood roll down the cheeks ...”
“On the twenty-fourth of January we moved forward. We ran into guys from the 506th regiment. Their losses were very heavy. The private sector ended, high-rise buildings went on. It was here, at the crossroads, that the first losses began. Spirit snipers crisscrossed the road. They wounded Kuzya the machine gunner from the first platoon. A sniper shot him in both legs. Platoon Lieutenant Mamenko tried to pull him out, so the sniper almost shot off his middle finger. Then the guys said that the finger was sewn on to him.
Then the company gathered in the outermost houses along the road. I remember the company commander standing in the doorway and shouting to our platoon: “Run across here one at a time!” The first one ran, I followed him. I turn around and there is no one behind me. The boys standing nearby smile: “I was born in a shirt!” It turns out that while I was running across, the sniper shot at me three times. I ask: “Did you even shoot at the body?” - "Twice in the body, one - in the head."
Then the platoon walked around the non-shootable areas and joined us. The commander gave the command: throw smoke bombs on the road and run across to the other side. Fled. Received new introductory and dashes moved on. We run into a large two-story garage. There is no one in it, behind it is a concrete fence, and behind the fence are the positions of the duh calculation "AGS". The platoon commander contacted the company commander by radio and outlined the situation. The first platoon with snipers pulled up to us. While they were running across, one boy was wounded in the side. And so he lay in the area being shot through ... The company commander calls the “box”, shouts: “I have a “two hundredth”! We need to evacuate immediately!" The guy lies, does not move. We thought everything was dead.
At the same time, our snipers began to shoot the spirits. One of them said: “I can’t aim properly, PSO (optical sniper sight. - Auth.) interferes. The distance is thirty meters. I shoot, I see that I hit, shreds of clothes and meat are pulled out, and he goes on in any way, under drugs. In response, the spirits opened fire from the AGS. Ricochet fragments from the ceiling wounded a contractor from our platoon. He was a cool guy, his name was Kostya. He was 25 years old, but development, to be honest, at 15. He joked all the time, telling jokes for children. But well done, he turned out to be a man, he didn’t put his pants on. He stands, they bandage his head, and tears mixed with blood roll down his cheeks.
Our snipers suppressed the calculation of the "AGS" spirits, but ahead, in a log house, a spiritual sniper sat down. The second platoon was stationed in the next house, they were commanded by the political officer of the company. He was wounded there. In general, the second platoon had no luck with officers. Then he was commanded by a sergeant-conscript.
At dusk, an infantry fighting vehicle drove up to us, apparently from the second company, to pick up the "200th". They approach him, and he himself rises. The guys are shocked: it’s necessary to lie motionless in such a cold for so long - five hours!
The night has come. Spirits came to collect their dead. They light up "candles" - such dim lighting rockets, and yell so drawn out - "Allah Akbar!". Everything is on track. The company commander commands: "Prepare to repel a possible attack!" He takes his "AKMS" and with the words "Glory to the CPSU!" releases a long burst into the opening. Rzhach stood for five minutes. So at least a little bit, but the nervous tension was thrown off ...
“We advanced without armor…”
Igor Druzhinin, 3rd motorized rifle company, contract soldier:
We spent the night in hastily pitched tents. In the morning we were given as many BCs as you can take. They received new camouflage robes, white ones, to replace the old ones, and began to advance on Grozny on foot. Then "behi" with "two hundredths" drove up. The boys were well torn: the shell of our SAUshka turned out to be undershot. The battalion commander yelled to get the “behi” out of sight, otherwise we would go into battle, and some already had eyes wide with fear.
They advanced without armor towards Minutka Square. The entire private sector, through which they passed, was destroyed, not to say completely, there were a lot of places where there were just heaps of bricks instead of houses. Before us, the 506th regiment stormed here, which we seemed to be changing, since it was defeated. We found a place where ours were soaked by a shell. The iron gates at the house are covered in blood and holes.
We moved by dashes to the end of the private sector and settled in the first more or less whole private houses. Some of them contained dead militants. Immediately they began to lay bricks on the windows, climbed around the house. Whether there were ours ahead, it was not clear, from the nearest high-rise buildings they were shooting in our direction. In the evening, they lit a fire behind the house, began to cook food. The "Czechs" shot a little at the reflections of the fire, but they thrashed from the "border", but they could not get us.
From somewhere a tank of the 506th regiment drove up to us, the peasants sat down with us, we fed them. And they are making plans for how they will take the five-story building in the morning - it seems that their boys stayed there, but the “Czechs” captured almost all of it. The most interesting thing is that they gathered five of them to fight. Here are the men!
“The task of the day was completed…”
Alexander Frolov, Deputy regiment commander, guard lieutenant colonel:
- In the new direction of operation, we had to replace the 506th motorized rifle regiment. The units of the regiment passed the streets of the private sector of Grozny, almost one and a half kilometers, with very heavy losses - there were 12-20 people left in the companies. They almost passed the private sector, there was one block left to the multi-storey buildings in the center of Grozny. According to the plan, the 506th regiment should reduce its sector of the offensive, three streets are cut into us, we go between the 1st and 506th motorized rifle regiments. But it turns out that the 1st regiment, the Tamanians, is behind us, but they had no combat experience, although they were armed to the teeth, they were our second echelon. We, next to the 276th regiment, and then some more units. We entered the streets, I am in the center with the 2nd battalion, on the right is the 1st battalion. They quickly got involved, very quickly, so that the spirits did not have time to figure out the situation. At night, along one street, they approached the shopping center, as it turned out later, and the garages in front of it, in fact, these were not garages, as on the map, but a foundation pit, it was impossible to go along the second street right away, but then they went in, expanded the front of the offensive. There, the 1st battalion ran into reinforced firing points and got stuck. And when we came to them from the side, the spirits there threw everything and rushed. We have completed the task of the day. We decide with a battalion commander or two: we sleep for three hours, have a quick bite and at three in the morning in groups of 3-5 people - forward until the soul rises and prays. Bulavintsev's battalion quickly went to the cinema and to the shopping center. I was behind him about 200 meters. The morning came, the spirits saw that we had no support on the right and on the left. The 506th regiment does not move. General Bulgakov, it was heard on the air, swears, removes the regiment commander from his post: “Why haven’t they taken Minutka Square yet!”
“A military tribunal arrives with fighters ...”
Alexander Likhachev, chief of staff of the regiment, lieutenant colonel:
- In the midst of the fighting on Minutka, a representative of the military prosecutor's office from the group with a group of soldiers raided the headquarters of the regiment. It turned out - for the battalion commander Major Bulavintsev, arrested for leaving the bridge over the railway. They began to figure it out ... Bulavintsev went to Minutka not in the lane allocated to his battalion, but on the right (there was no neighbor there), rounding this bridge. He passed it and returned to his offensive zone. The report that Bulavintsev had crossed the bridge left the regiment for the headquarters of the group. General Bulgakov tears and mosques: "I left the bridge!" A bridge was needed. Bulavintsev did not defend it, because the bridge was not in its offensive zone, and went to Minutka, where he had a combat mission. He is surrounded for three days, he fails to deliver anything, but a military tribunal arrives with fighters: “Let's bring Major Bulavintsev here!” I say - go to Minutka and try to take it. Then he showed the regiment's combat order, where it was clearly written that this bridge was excluded from the offensive zone of the Bulavintsev battalion. “Give me this order…” asked the representative of the military tribunal. “I won’t give it, it was issued on the basis of the combat order of the group; it is at the headquarters of the group. This is where it all ended...
“Four days left until the demobilization…”
Alexey Gorshkov, commander of the 3rd platoon of the 3rd motorized rifle company, senior lieutenant:
- Bulavintsev's battalion, in my opinion, without reconnaissance, entered Minutka Square through the garages at night, sat down in the basements of a five-story building and for two days the "Czechs" threshed them. On the evening of January 25, Bulavintsev, according to the words of the battalion commander and company commander, went to the regiment via communication: “We won’t go out ourselves, we need help.” They call me to the company commander - we were just going to sleep. At 0.30, the command to the platoon is “Rise!”.
On January 24 and 25, our company stood on Vozdvizhenskaya Street, on Khankalskaya Street there was a cinema - without walls, only the wall from where the cameraman showed films survived. Our task was to break through the corridor to Bulavintsev's battalion. We went with the whole company, platoons. My platoon was called "ranger" - I had a grenade launcher, machine guns - two "PKM", three "RPK" and a sniper, a normal guy.
The conscripts rushed into battle, how much it cost me the strength to keep them out: “You have four days left before demobilization ...” They usually advanced like this: I, behind me Vova the radio operator - Pager Jan, machine gunner Seryozha Petropavlovsky - Trachacha and one contract soldier. First they let out smoke, and only then did the conscripts go, five or six, accompanied by one or two contract soldiers. The machine gunner Kolya Krasnov, we called him Kranov Klya, was at the rear, after his story, how he signed his notebook in the first grade - and the “double basses”, the sniper and the RPK machine gunner. They left the battle in the same sequence. I was the last to leave, I never left ahead of my soldiers, there was no such thing. According to my tactics, other platoons acted.
We entered at one in the morning through a cut-down garden of the private sector, 20-25 meters wide, to the right were the viaduct and Minutka Square, to the left - the House of Life. The second platoon goes first, the first one follows, and the company commander suddenly says to me: “You will stay with me, you need to cover the command post of the company.” I was very offended: “I’ll go myself!” - "You will go to the tribunal!"
At one in the morning, the first and second platoons began to advance, and at two or three hours the battle began ...
"Stuck in a traffic jam..."
Artur Sataev, chief of staff of the 1st motorized rifle battalion, major:
- After the first battles, at night the regiment commander pointed out my shortcomings in the organization of communications and demanded my presence in the private sector of Grozny, where there were units, a battalion commander and an assistant battalion commander for artillery.
Taking a BMP-1KSh with him, he went to the units at night. There was fog that night, and it was difficult to navigate the unfamiliar terrain at night in the city. In the private sector, everything was ruined, and in some places you can’t understand whether this is a former street, or whether a tank drove through the yards. I got stuck in a traffic jam, there are infantry fighting vehicles, both ours and neighboring units, and they don’t know whether to go forward: the lead vehicle came under fire. Tears from the BMP, the officers say: "There is an ambush ahead, militants." To my knowledge, it should be clean. Just in case, I asked for the name of the street we were on. He sent his soldier to find a sign with the name of the street, he came after 10 minutes, found nothing.
I decided to rely on my location data, and I was not mistaken. I contacted the battalion commander, described the situation and location to him. He replied that it was possible to go there directly to the militants, began to explain that it was necessary to go in yards, to explain which yards did not work, he said that he would send a person to guide the combat vehicle. After 20 minutes, a soldier from the grenade launcher platoon of our battalion came to me, he led the car to the house where the battalion commander was. I remember the battalion commander Major Ilyukhin at that moment ... The man did not sleep at all for several days. I don't know what he did to stay awake: eating coffee beans, or taking sleep medication, or just holding on. But didn't fall. He said: "Arthur, communication is the business of the chief of staff, take the battalion's communications chief, Lieutenant Neikshin, and make it normal."
Communication problems were due to the fact that during the battle they were not charged, and for the most part the batteries of the radio stations were lost. That same night, I went to the regimental command post in the hope of finding batteries. The signalmen managed to beg for only a few charged batteries. It was necessary to find charged batteries to get out now and tomorrow. Everything worked out for us, but one unit remained without communication. The exit has been found. I ordered the commander of the mortar battery, which at that time was not moving and was in the depot, to break up the passenger cars and get the car batteries, connect them to the radio stations using wires, creating the necessary voltage, excluding the battery banks of large car batteries. Everything worked.
Having eliminated the shortcomings, I decided to stay in the city, closer to the units.
At dawn, with Lieutenant Neikshin, they went around the houses where the units were, all the companies of the battalion collected enough batteries, handed them over to the communications company for charging. I remember: when I went to the supply platoon at the depot, the soldiers were sitting there, drinking tea, playing a two-cassette recorder, powered by the batteries of the stations and about five of them lying nearby ... I was ready to shoot them, but I gave the soldiers a dressing down, calmed down and took the batteries.
During the hostilities, I often had to travel around Grozny at night. Always at the forefront, among the units, it was much more comfortable than driving around the city at night, even though you were going to the regimental command post. It was real to run into the underdogs or "friendly fire" at night. But that first time, in an unfamiliar city, on a command vehicle, navigating the fog on the map, among the ruins - the feeling was not pleasant ...
"The sniper didn't bother us anymore..."
Andrei Aktaev, machine gunner of the 3rd platoon of the 1st motorized rifle company, contract soldier:
We spent the whole night in the garage. In the morning the dukhovskiy sniper began to play pranks again. I remember a grenade launcher, a contract soldier from the first platoon - like a crazy guy - shouting: “Boys! Cover!" Everything in that direction is a flurry of fire. He runs out with a “border”, takes aim and, with some kind of scream, releases a vacuum grenade. And so three times.
Somewhere closer to dinner, three soldiers and an officer from the 506th regiment ran across to us. Each brought a pair of Bumblebees with him. They asked: "Cover!" They ran out and how they blew from three flamethrowers - even crumbs fell from the windowsills. And that's it, the sniper didn't bother us anymore. After lunch we moved on. The platoon was located in a house. They spent the night there. The next day, the assault on Grozny ended for my platoon: they sent an artillery battalion to guard it.
“Everything was shot through by militants…”
Vitaly Zavraysky, commander of the 4th motorized rifle company, captain:
It's the twenty-fifth of January. My company had already received the task and was all on armor, lined up in a column, when the regimental psychologist approached and congratulated me on the birth of my daughter. And that thought never crossed my mind...
He went with a company to carry out the assigned task. Vehicles with crews were left on the outskirts of the private sector near the railway depot. They broke up into three platoons, each was indicated the street along which they were to advance. Each company was an assault group. Thus, our entire battalion was divided into groups: light, medium and heavy.
With the beginning of the assault, one company went forward, followed by the second, my company was the last one. The supply of ammunition, medicines and food was minimal. The assault began at 16-17 hours. We had to advance in the private sector, making passages in the fences, walls of houses, since it was impossible to move along the road: everything was shot through by militants. They made their way until dark.
The battalion commander gathered the company commanders and once again clarified the task. Half an hour later, the first company left the private sector. After some time, they reported from there that they had occupied the Rodina cinema and another house. It was followed by the next company with the battalion commander. Then the artillery of the regiment began its work. The militants discovered our middle group and opened fire on it. It was clarified to me that I and my company were on the outskirts of the private sector. He entrenched himself, took up all-round defense and stayed here until the morning. In the morning, the militants opened fire on me, and at that time two companies were fighting in the cinema - it was heard over the connection. Regimental artillery fire was constantly adjusted. I ordered the mortar crew attached to me to process the area in front of us, from where the militants were firing. So we fired back until lunch the next day. Two companies in the cinema were running out of ammunition.
“It was possible to light a cigarette from the trunk ...”
Igor Druzhinin, 3rd motorized rifle company, contract soldier:
- At night, at two or three o'clock, the company was assembled and told that we had to go forward, take the shopping center. Ahead was a small park about twenty meters wide, a cinema to the left of it, a shopping center to the right, and a five-story building looked directly at us. We lay down near the park, and then the commander of our third company said to my former reconnaissance commander: “Well, reconnaissance, let's go ahead, and we are behind you,” and the reconnaissance company, Senior Lieutenant Katunkin excused himself: “We were not given such a task to lead you forward ... ”, in general - scared.
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Our fellow countryman, a native of the Kovylkinsky district, Alexei Kichkasov, in December 1999, during the assault on Grozny, saved the reconnaissance detachment of the 506th motorized rifle regiment. Under the hurricane fire of militants, he brought out his guys who were surrounded. This feat was written about by Komsomolskaya Pravda, the journal of special forces units Bratishka, and was reported on the ORT channel. Alexei was presented to the title of Hero of Russia, but our fellow countryman has not yet received a well-deserved award.
We met with Alexei in his native Kovylkino. He retired in May last year. The officer's biography of our hero began to be banal. Lesha after graduation entered the Mordovian Pedagogical Institute named after Evseviev. I chose the Faculty of Physical Education, Department of the Basics of Life Safety. Kichkasov was engaged in martial arts for a long time. In competitions, he managed to win prizes. At the end of his fifth year of study, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Kichkasov did not expect that the Motherland would call him under her banner. When he was studying, there were a lot of plans, but in none of them did his life intersect with military roads. He worked a little as a teacher at the Kovylkinsky GPTU, was a karate-kyokushinkai coach.
Lieutenant Stars
Kichkasov did not manage to stay in civilian life for a long time. The Minister of Defense issued an order to call up reserve lieutenants. In the military registration and enlistment office he was offered to pay his civic duty to the Motherland. Lesha agreed. So our countryman ended up in one of the most famous Russian divisions - the 27th Totsk peacekeeping division. Here he was among the seven lieutenants from Mordovia. Most of them were assigned to the 506th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment. He got into an intelligence company, then this unit, according to Alexei, experienced an understaffing of officers. The young lieutenant decided to take the maximum possible from two years of military service, gain harsh army experience, and temper character. Where else, if not in intelligence, can this be done? And so he liked his stay in Totsk. Teachings, tactical exercises were replaced by field trips. Lieutenant Kichkasov took part in all this. He quickly mastered what cadets in military schools have been studying for several years. Otherwise it was impossible. The 506th regiment, a peacekeeping regiment for a long time, passed through Transnistria, Abkhazia and the First Chechen, became part of the constant readiness. This meant: if the flames of a new war flared up somewhere, they would be thrown first.
Second Chechen
In the fall of 1999, after the Basayev and Khattab gangs invaded Dagestan, it became clear that a new war was imminent. And so it happened. At the end of September, the echelons of the regiment were drawn to the North Caucasus. Columns of the 506th entered Chechnya from Dagestan. The first serious clashes with the militants took place in the area of Chervlyonaya-uzlovaya station. The guards did not lose face. Corr. "C" just then managed to visit this area, and we are witnesses that motorized rifles really performed such combat missions that the elite units of the internal troops could not cope with. Moreover, they managed to get out of the most dangerous situations with minimal losses. This is a great merit of regimental intelligence. The company was relatively small, it consisted of 80 people. At first, Kichkasov commanded a platoon of armored reconnaissance and patrol vehicles, and, in principle, could not participate in the exit behind enemy lines. But in one of the battles, the lieutenant of a neighboring platoon was wounded, and our countryman took command of his platoon.
"Capital C" wrote more than once about the deplorable state of the Russian army. The troops are now equipped in some ways even worse than during the Afghan war. Satellite navigation systems, thermal imaging surveillance tools that allow you to detect the enemy not only at night, but also in rain, fog, under an impressive layer of earth - all this has long become a familiar attribute of Western intelligence units. In the Russian army, all this is known as exotic. And although our industry can produce systems no worse than foreign ones, there is no money for their purchase. And as in the years of the Great Patriotic War, all hope is for the sharp eyes and strong legs of our servicemen. And where the Americans would send a remote-controlled flying reconnaissance aircraft, ours were forced to go on their own, sometimes even into the thick of it. The only reconnaissance attributes were silenced AKMs and binoculars.
Mordva against militants
As Aleksey recalls, at the beginning of the Second Chechen Company, they managed to go deep into the enemy’s location by 10-12 kilometers. Previously, in order not to fall under their own fire, they warned the command about the direction of movement. With him, the lieutenant took 7-11 of the most trusted people. By the way, among them were guys from Mordovia, for example, Alexei Larin Kichkasov now lives in neighboring houses. During one exit, his namesake stumbled and fell into the river, got very wet, and there were already frosts, but they continued on their way. After all, going back meant disrupting a combat mission, and in a war, failure to comply with an order is fraught with losses in the ranks of attacking motorized riflemen. And the fighter, soaked to the skin, never complained in 14 hours of sortie. This is where the proverb, well-known in civilian life, acquired a specific meaning: "I would go on reconnaissance with him."
The scouts studied the places through which the columns of infantry and tanks were to pass. They found the gun emplacements of the militants and called in artillery and aviation fire. Artillery is the "God of War", and it worked much better this campaign than the previous one. Howitzers began to hit within five minutes after they were given the coordinates of the target. Anyone who understands even a little about military affairs will understand that this is an excellent result. Moreover, as a rule, the shells hit with high accuracy. And this is without any sophisticated laser guidance systems. In this battle for Grozny, the Russian army finally used the entire arsenal of destruction available to it for the first time. Starting from long-range missiles "Tochka-U" (range up to 120 km, accuracy - up to 50 m) and super-powerful mortars "Tulip" (caliber - 240 mm), which turned five-story houses into a pile of ruins. Alexey speaks highly of the Buratino heavy flamethrower (range up to 3.5 km, ammunition - 30 thermobaric missiles). With its long “nose”, it fires two vacuum rockets simultaneously, destroying all life within a radius of several tens of meters.
Kichkasov did not specifically count how many times they had to go to the enemy rear. Sometimes the intensity of reconnaissance was so great that no more than two hours were allotted for rest. A little sleep - and again forward! The work in the Grozny region was especially difficult. Here it was even necessary to carry out reconnaissance in force. This is when, in order to identify firing points, they cause a blow on themselves.
Battle for Grozny
During the Grozny operation, the 506th regiment was in the direction of the main attack. Therefore, he suffered great losses. The press reported that almost a third of the personnel were out of action in a week. In companies of one hundred and twenty people, twenty or thirty remained. In battalions of four hundred - eighty-one hundred. The scouts also got it hard. On the morning of December 17, 1999, their company was assigned a combat mission: to move forward and occupy strategic height 382.1. It towered not far from Grozny, and many districts of the Chechen capital were controlled from it. The matter was complicated by the fact that there were powerful concrete bunkers of militants. Went out at night. The crossing took about seven hours. And then we ran into the militants. An intense gunfight ensued. Next to Alexei Kichkasov was Sergeant Major Pavlov, an experienced fighter who had already served in Tajikistan and received the Order of Courage. In 1996, in Chechnya, he was part of the personal guard of the commander of the Russian troops. A fragment of an exploding grenade cut off the head of the foreman. The wound was severe, the brain was affected. Aleksey bandaged his comrade-in-arms, gave an injection of promedol. Already bandaged, he could not fire from a machine gun, but tried his best to help the commander. Equipped magazines with cartridges, but soon lost consciousness.
Pavlov will die in a few days in the Mozdok hospital, but that will be later, but for now his comrades were destroying the terrorists. The sniper fire started. One soldier was shot in the eye. He didn't even have time to scream. Then five more people died. Alexei's best friend, Lieutenant Vlasov, was seriously wounded in the stomach by a machine-gun burst. A soldier who rushed to help was killed by a sniper. This time, due to some mistake, the gunners opened fire on their own. Aleksey Kichkasov, together with several fighters, carried out the wounded foreman, then returned back. The surviving soldiers gathered around the senior lieutenant. The militants, realizing that they were dealing with a small group of scouts, tried to surround them, but our furious fire frustrated their plan.
Lieutenant Vladimir Vlasov died in Larin's arms. Unfortunately, the guys did not manage to take out the bodies of the dead from the battlefield. Aleksey Kichkasov brought out, or rather saved, twenty-nine people. For this battle, the ability to act in a seemingly hopeless situation, Senior Lieutenant Kichkasov will be presented with the title of Hero of Russia. Komsomolskaya Pravda will be the first to write about this. More bloody battles will follow. And the ill-fated height 382.1 was fully occupied in a week, they found the bodies of their comrades, mutilated by spirits. The militants mined Vladimir Vlasov, taking out their impotent rage on him.
Sports character
Alexei believes that he managed to survive in this war only thanks to sports training. Karate taught him to overcome fear, mortal fatigue. He quickly adapted to the combat situation. The worst thing in war is when complete indifference sets in, a person does not pay attention to the bullets whistling over his head. Military psychologists describe this condition, it is as dangerous as the loss of control over oneself. Alexei did everything to ensure that neither he nor his subordinates had this, because urban battles are the most difficult. Here he received a concussion. He doesn't even remember how it happened. Everything happened in a fraction of a second. The infamous Minutka Square was taken without Kichkasov. On ORT in the program of Sergei Dorenko there was a report about this event, looking into the camera lens, Alexei's subordinates sincerely regretted that their commander was not around, they said hello to him. This program was seen by the mother of our hero. Before that, she did not know that he was involved in hostilities. Our countryman stayed in the Rostov hospital for about a month.
The senior lieutenant retired from the army in May 2000. Now he lives in his native Kovylkino. I wanted to get a job in law enforcement agencies, but it turned out that no one needed his combat experience. As before the army, Alexei devotes himself to karate - he trains children. As for the star of the Hero of Russia, Kichkasov never received it. Although he was presented to this title thrice. The fact that he was not a career officer played a fatal role in this. It turns out that when a guy was sent into battle, no one understood that he had only studied at the military department, and it came to awards, then according to the logic of rear bureaucrats, it turns out that he is not supposed to be a hero. More absurd and offensive is hard to imagine. In our country, only the dead are honored.
Andrei Seleznev was born in the town of Ufa. February 7, 1977. Since 1983, he lived and studied in Totskoye 2. Andrey's father did not live with them since childhood.
Lyudmila Simonova (Shcherbakova) school teacher tells about him: "I taught Andryushka from the 7th grade,was their class teacher from 7th to 11th grade, taught Russian language and literature. There were 43 people in the class then. At the parent meeting, his mother, Lyudmila Ivanovna, always took with her - this is an educational moment: he listened to complaints about himself from teachers. And they complained about inattention, could not sit for a long time, something had to be done. In the class, he enjoyed authority from classmates, did not offend anyone, was polite with teachers, respected adults. He was the ringleader in the class: he organized all the trips: he took us to nature at any time of the year. We had a favorite place - not far from the Holy Spring: the boys from the class made a table, and around the bench: we made a fire, played, sang songs. Until now, each of us remembers these events. He honestly served in the army. When he came on vacation, all the graduates in the town gathered at Andrey's. saw off from vacation together, went to the station. But when the news came, the guys and I again gathered at Andrei's mother. They waited for confirmation of death and .... They did not believe ... But then they brought a zinc coffin. Colleagues arrived, who talked about our HERO: he never complained about anything, he was such a "quickie". We watch a film where he stands with his colleagues on the mountain and says: "There is not much left. Wait. I will arrive soon." And a heavy exhalation .... DID NOT ARRIVE. They also buried the whole town. We try not to forget about our graduates: we go to the cemetery, introduce younger schoolchildren to boys who have not yet had time to start a family, but have steadfastly endured all the hardships of military service. About them it is written to the book "The Black Tulip".
Andrey served in military service in the missile forces. After the deadline, he went on a contract to reconnaissance in the division of his military camp.
He left for Chechnya on October 25, 1999. Andrei was a wonderful friend and person. He respected his parents. LudmilaSelezneva (Plotnikova) Mum,Andreyloves and misses today.Natalya Borodaenko. Nina Bulgakova. Marina Revina nurses who treated the wounded of the 506th infantry regiment in 1999. They remember him as cheerful, he came to the medical unit, showed his body armor, which his mother had perfected for him.
On December 17, 1999, a reconnaissance group of seven people under the command of Senior Lieutenant Alexei Kichkasov conducted reconnaissance in a dacha village near the settlement. Suburban. From here, the militants conducted a harassing shelling of the units of the second battalion of the regiment from sniper rifles, grenade launchers and ATGMs. Having found several firing points, bunkers and dugouts on the slopes, they received an order to withdraw. In the afternoon we returned to the point of temporary deployment. battle for height 382.1 near Grozny. Two hours later, the company was given a new task: to capture the strategically important height 382.1, as well as two skyscrapers on the outskirts of it and hold them until the units of the second battalion approached. A powerful artillery preparation was promised, including the use of volume explosion projectiles, as well as support by all available forces and means.
This hill towered over the Chechen capital. It opened up an excellent view of Prigorodnoye, Gikalovsky, the 53rd section of Grozny, Chernorechye. The psychiatric hospital was also clearly visible - a strong cruciform building made of red brick, in which, as it turned out later, there was a powerful stronghold of the militants. Rocket men once stood at the very height, and powerful concrete fortifications and deep bunkers have survived to this day.
December 18, 1999
at 7.15 they rushed forward in a long chain along a narrow path. Twenty minutes later the head patrol and the first group reached the outskirts of the plateau. There were no more than 150 meters to the tower. At the bottom of the circular trench, they found a large-caliber machine gun, carefully covered with a blanket. After ten or fifteen steps, the patrol stumbled upon a “spirit” that had grown up as if from under the ground. Private Yu. Kurgankov, going first, reacted faster - a line at point-blank range and a dash into the trench.And immediately the plateau came to life, machine guns and machine guns started working. The head patrol and the first group dispersed to the right of the direction of movement and occupied a shallow trench along the edge of the height.
The battle is already going on all over the high-rise. To the right, slightly ahead, were Sergeant N. Meleshkin, Senior Sergeant Seleznev, Company Sergeant Edik, Sergeant E. Khmelevsky, Junior Sergeant A. Arshinov, Corporal A. Shurkin. Having run to the roof of the bunker, senior sergeant Andrey Seleznev throws a grenade down.
At this time, the "spiritual" snipers opened fire. In the second group, Corporal A. Shurkin was the first to die. The bullet hit him in the eye. Without a cry, he silently sank down. Senior Sergeant Seleznev died next - a sniper's bullet pierced his arm and entered his chest. Andrei was turned around before our eyes, the “unloading” on him was smoking. Sergeant E. Khmelevsky also died. He almost ran to the entrance to the hangar. The first bullet hit him in the chest, the second in the chin.
On the right flank, in the first group, an ordinary S. Kenzhibaev died from a sniper bullet, and a big man from Penza, junior sergeant S. Nedoshivin, was hit in the neck, breaking an artery. Private A. Zashikhin on the radio transmits to the regiment that there is a battle, there are dead and wounded. In the next moment, he himself is wounded by a grenade fragment.
On the radio comes the order to withdraw. The company commander, Lieutenant I. Ostroumov, is trying to bring it to everyone, but this is not easy to do. Fighters in groups of several people are in different trenches. The radio station of the first group was smashed by an explosion, the signalmen were injured, and the roar was such that you couldn’t shout. And Ostroumov with seven soldiers who were nearby, including an artillery gunner and a signalman, goes down. He returned to the regiment at about nine in the morning.
And the high-altitude battle continued. A machine gun burst was seriously wounded in the stomach by Lieutenant V. Vlasov. Sapper Bulatov, who rushed to his aid, was killed by a sniper.
A week later, Major Ilyukhin, the chief of intelligence of the regiment, led the fighters to a height of 382.1. The height was occupied at night, without shots. For a week, aviation and artillery plowed it beyond recognition.
In the morning at the height we found three of our comrades. The bodies of Senior Sergeant Seleznev and Sergeant Khmelevsky were mutilated.
Foreman V. Pavlov died in Mozdok on December 25, on the very day when the height will become ours. Junior Sergeant S. Nedoshivin will be found by the Ministry of Emergency Situations in three months, he will be buried at home in Penza. Private Kenzhibaev and sapper Bulatov are still considered missing. I and several of my comrades were the last to see and carried them from that height. That they still could not endure is our pain for life, and that they died heroically is a fact.
The head of intelligence, Major N. Ilyukhin, will die from a sniper's bullet on January 21 in Grozny, on Minutka Square. Senior Lieutenant A. Kichkasov has already retired. Aleksey is not a regular military man (he graduated from Saransk University, a teacher and trainer in martial arts). Kichkasov has more than thirty military reconnaissance missions to his credit, he is an excellent officer and a fearless commander. On January 23, Aleksei will be seriously shell-shocked in Grozny and, after being cured in a Rostov hospital, will retire to the reserve. For the battle at an altitude of 382.1, for Grozny, Kichkasov will be presented with the title of Hero of Russia. Thank you, Alexey, that you did not leave us at that height, brought us to your own ..
On the right Ilyukhin Nikolay Major of reconnaissance company. Andrew's friendwill die from a sniper's bullet on January 21 in Grozny, on Minutka Square.
Company "E" (Easy [i: zi] - light) 506 Parachute Regiment was formed on July 1, 1942 at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. It was the first airborne regiment to complete basic and airborne training. The "light" company consisted of 132 conscripts and eight officers, divided into three platoons and a headquarters section. Each platoon was divided into three rifle squads of 12 people and one mortar squad of 6 people. Each mortar section was armed with a 60mm mortar, and each rifle section had a .30 caliber machine gun. Individual weapons consisted of M1 Garand, M1 Carbine rifles, Thompson submachine guns and Colt M1911 pistols.
The Light Company began jump training at Fort Benning, Georgia in December 1942. The unit successfully completed all stages of parachute school training. Due to their excellent physical condition, achieved as a result of training in the Toccoa camp, they were even able to skip the first stage of parachute school, which consisted of physical training itself. The "light" company became the only airborne unit that could do this.
March 1943 The Light Company met in North Carolina at Camp McKal, named after Private John McKal of the 82nd Airborne Division, who became the first American paratrooper to die in action during World War II. Here, training began with a vengeance, as everyone understood that they were preparing for the already inevitable invasion. On June 10, 1943, while at Camp McKal, E Company and the rest of the 506th officially become part of the 101st Airborne Division.
Company "E" arrived in England on the military transport "Samaria" on September 15, 1943. The company settled in Aldebourne, where they began to conduct exhausting jumping and tactical training. While in England, the "Light" company, like the entire 101st division, honed its skills before the invasion of Europe. At the end of May 1944, E Company moved to Appottery. Here was their sorting zone, as well as the airfields from which they were to take off. Starting from that moment, the analysis and development of tasks and the study of the landscape using mock-ups began, until everyone from the general to the private knew by heart all the details of the combat mission in its entirety. At 11 p.m. on June 5, the "Light" company was already rolling along the airfield in its transport aircraft, which, taking off and lining up with the rest of the landing aircraft, began their journey to Normandy.
June 6, 1944 at 01:10 "Light" company crossed the coast of Cherbourg. Their wing passed through thick clouds, causing the planes to scatter heavily. Strong air defense fire also contributed to this, so few of the paratroopers landed in the designated areas. By the morning of June 6, the “Light” company consisted of nine riflemen and two officers, with two machine guns, one bazooka and one 60mm mortar. The company was tasked with capturing a battery of 105mm howitzers aimed at the Utah coast, located 4-5 km to the northeast. Eleven men attacked and captured the whole battery and dispersed the infantry covering it. The battery was directed by an observer stationed on the Utah coast, who guided the guns to the positions of the Fourth Infantry Division on the coast. By destroying the battery, the young paratroopers saved countless lives that day. From June 6 to July 10, the "Light" company as part of the battalion fought incessant battles. After the capture of Carentan, the company was sent to the Utah coast for subsequent shipment back to England.
Returning to Aldebourne, the company patched up holes in personnel that appeared after operations in Normandy and restored lost weapons and equipment. Training began again to bring the newly arrived fighters up to the now battle-hardened D-Day veterans. At least 16 different landing operations were either planned or canceled due to the speed with which the Allied forces were moving across France. Some of them were canceled while the paratroopers were planning and preparing for another drop. But then the command came up with a plan that was not going to be canceled.
Marshal Montgomery conceived the operation that became known as the Market Garden. In the English name, the word Market was supposed to mean landing, and Garden - ground forces. The task for the three parachute divisions was to capture the bridges over the main water obstacles in Holland, the main of which was the bridge over the Rhine, which led to Germany. The 101st Division was to capture the bridge across the Wilhelmina Canal near the village of Sohn and the road that ran north-south from Eindhoven to Vegel and on to the 82nd Division's area of responsibility at Nijmegen.
On a wonderful autumn day on September 17, 1944, the "Light" company, consisting of 154 people, landed in Holland. Encountering almost no resistance, the paratrooper armada took up their positions, not knowing what they would have to endure in the coming days. For almost ten days, the Light Company fought not only for their lives, but also for the lives of the paratroopers who were up the road from them. The company managed to capture and hold the intended objects, as well as keep the road open. However, as was often the case with paratroopers, they were surrounded and had no firepower to counter the advancing enemy. When they were released from the encirclement, 132 people remained alive.
From October 2 to November 25, 1944, the company occupied a defensive line in Holland, in the zone known as the "Island". The 506th regiment, which included the "Light" company, occupied the gap between the British units, which had previously been held by a British division, which outnumbered the landing unit by about 4 times. A company consisting of 130 people was supposed to hold a sector 3 km long. By November 25, 1944, when the company was sent to regroup and rest in France, 98 officers and soldiers remained in its ranks.
By this moment, along with the replenishment, old comrades begin to return to the company from the hospitals, who, although they were absent for quite a long time, were not forgotten. Battle veterans did not quite understand the need to train replacements, they did not take field training seriously, they found it boring and even humiliating. While the paratroopers were being replenished and regrouped, the divisional commander, General Taylor, flew to Washington to participate in the compilation of an updated organizational structure and the principle of manning weapons and equipment for paratrooper units. At the same time, the deputy commander, Brigadier General Gerald Higgins, was called to England to lecture on the conduct of Operation Kitchen Garden, and General Anthony McAuliffe, commander of artillery of the 101st division, became acting division commander.
On December 17, 1944, the "Light" company and the rest of the 101st division were alerted, loaded into vehicles and sent to the vicinity of the small Belgian town of Bastogne. Having not spent even two weeks in France, the "Light" company was sent into battle without having enough winter uniforms, ammunition and provisions. 101 divisions surrounded the city with a defensive ring. The 506th regiment occupied the northeastern part of the defensive ring, and the "Light" company fortified itself in the forests east of the Bastogne-Foy road.
An extremely difficult situation has developed in this zone, because regular parts of the American infantry were exhausted, panicked and left their positions, retreating behind the 506th line of defense. And again the company found itself in a familiar situation - completely surrounded and in dire need of ammunition. The next twelve days proved to be the most brutal days of fighting in the history of the US Army. It was one of the most severe winters in Europe - on December 21, 1944, 30 cm of snow fell. The cold, which led to frostbite on the legs of the soldiers, caused damage comparable to the attacks of the Germans. On December 22, 1944, the Germans offered 101 divisions to surrender, to which General McAuliffe replied: “Nuts!” (like "Bullshit!"). And on December 26, 1944, General Patton's 3rd Army broke through the encirclement and went to the "shabby Bastogne scum."
This breakthrough allowed the 101st to breathe freely and finally receive ammunition and provisions. However, the "Light" company was immediately thrown into the attack. When they arrived in Bastogne there were 121 of them, and by the New Year 1945 there were less than 100 left. The first two weeks of January 1945, the "Light" company fought for the return of the territory around Bastogne. By mid-January, the 506th regiment was sent to the divisional reserve.
From February 18 to February 23, 1945, the "Light" company took part in the battles in the city of Haguenau, where frequent bombardments were accompanied by short skirmishes with the enemy, typical of urban combat.
On February 25, 1945, the 506th Parachute Regiment was sent to Mourmelon, France. There, they were finally able to shower, eat hot meals, and go to sleep in their beds for the first time since December 17, 1944. While they were there, General Eisenhower personally presented the 101st Airborne Division with the U.S. President's Highest Commendation, which was the first time in Army history that a the whole division.
April 1945 found the "Light" company in Germany, where they remained until victory day in May 1945. At this time they were given the privilege of guarding Hitler's residence "Eagle's Nest" in the vicinity of Berchtesgarden. On the eve of the end of the war, this was the last military achievement of the "Light" company.
When the "Light" company entered the war on June 6, 1944, it consisted of 140 people. By the end of the war, 48 people who served in the company during this period died in battle. More than a hundred people who served in the company were wounded, some more than once. Their battle cry was "Currahee!", which means "lonely", but none of the fighters were alone - they all stood and fought together shoulder to shoulder.
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